20 Apr 2016

Batswana have been called upon to work together to develop Botswana’s African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) response strategy.

Speaking at a seminar on AGOA whose objective was to sensitise all relevant stakeholders on the new AGOA legislation and its implications, the Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry Mr Vincent Seretse stated that initiatives were in place to diversify the economy and sustain Botswana industries to ensure competitiveness in the international markets.

He said amongst the programmes were the National Exports Strategy , the Industrial Development Policy, the Economic Diversification Drive and the Private Sector Development Programme of which there was a need to implement and ensure that the manufacturers in the country benefited from new AGOA.

Mr Seretse said despite Botswana’s minimal benefits in the past 15 years, there was still much hope for manufacturers as Vision 2036 would be launched.He said Batswana only needed to reconsider their steps to move strategically towards diversification of exports to the US market.

Mr Seretse said among the new AGOA legislation was the provision that countries should develop AGOA utilization strategies with the help of US capacity building agencies.He said Botswana welcomed the new developments because they believed the strategy would enhance the utilisation for the programme.

He said through the strategy, Botswana would be able to explore and develop potential sectors to expand exports and be competitive in the US markets as well as the rest of the world.“I am in support of the development of a strategy because as Botswana, we were unable to fully benefit from AGOA in the past 15 years,” stated Mr Seretse.

Mr Seretse also said only two out of 13 companies that initially benefitted under the AGOA arrangements were exporting textile and clothing  adding that many industries could benefit under the arrangement.He said that had led to Botswana experiencing a negative trade balance of P38.1 million  with the US from 2004 to 2014.

Giving the background of AGOA, the minister stated that AGOA was a unilateral preferential trade arrangement extended by the US government to the Sub Saharan African countries.

He stated that the Act was signed into a law in May 2000 by former President Mr Bill Clinton, with the aim to improve trade and economic cooperation between the US and Sub-Saharan African countries.He said the Act originally covered the eight year period, but had since been extended over the years saying the last extension signed into law was in 2015 to 2025.

Mr Seretse also expressed gratitude and appreciation to the government of the United States of America that had been an important development partner to Botswana.He also said he appreciated the continued support and engagements Botswana has had with the US government agencies and the US embassy here in Gaborone following the reauthorisation of AGOA last year.

He said that was a motivation and it depicted commitment on the part of the US to ensure that all beneficiary Sub-Saharan countries utilised the programme.Meanwhile Mr Seretse also stated that the increased benefits under AGOA would result in an increased exports to the US enhancing Botswana’s economic growth through employment creation and industrial development.

He said it would further contribute to the regional integration objectives as the Southern African Development Community had refocused efforts on industrialization of the region.For his part, the American embassy charge D’Affairs Mr Timothy Smith stated that AGOA was the cornerstone trade initiative with Sub Saharan Africa

Mr Smith said since AGOA was introduced 15 years back, it had created over 3 0000 jobs across AGOA countries, and he urged Batswana to take advantage of unilateral tariff –free market access to improve their lives.In attendance was the Minister of Trade and Industry, Cooperatives and Marketing for Lesotho Mr Joshua Setipa, as well as other stakeholders. ENDS